Pickled Beets

Our beet crop has done pretty well this year & we are enjoying them in our kitchen. The chickens eat the leaves and we get the root, so it’s a win-win and nothing goes to waste. Not everyone likes beets- they have an earthy, dirty {in a delicious way!} slightly sweet flavor. We love roasted beets with tangy goat cheese as a side dish or over salad greens. Yum!

I just love their patterns & colors!

I’ve also started making cold-process soaps lately and for my next batch I’m going to use the deep, dark red beet infused water to color my soap. Should be beautiful.

I think my favorite way to eat a beet is pickled! About six years ago my husband & I traveled to New Zealand & we were pretty surprised to find that they don’t put a tomato slice on their burgers, they put a big slice of pickled beet! We didn’t realize until a few bites in what that different flavor was! I’ve pickled cucumbers and jalapeños before, but never beets. So I looked up a few recipes and all I could find was roasting the beets first, then putting them in a brine. Well, it’s about a million degrees here {90-105F on any given summer day} and turning on the oven just didn’t sound like a great idea. Plus a mushy-pickled-anything wasn’t what I had in mind. So I decided to just try it with raw beets and see what happened. What happened is that these pickled beets are amazing! They are tangy, sweet, sour and the best part- crunchy!

We’ve served them as an appetizer with pita chips & goat cheese to a few friends and they all go nuts for them & ask for the how to.

Left: beets immediately after putting them in the brine. Right: after about an hour of brine time. They get darker as they sit.

PICKLED BEETS

10-12 beets {or whatever you have on hand}

3 cups water

1.5 cup white vinegar

1.5 tbsp kosher salt

3/4 tsp sugar

whole peppercorns {your discretion on amount)

Combine water, vinegar, salt, sugar & peppercorns in a pot & lightly heat just until the sugar & salt are completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Peel your beets to remove skin. Slice beets very thin, maybe a millimeter or two so the brine can get through each slice.

Place all the beets in a mason jar {or whatever storage container you are using} & top with the brine. If I have leftover brine, I store it in an extra jar for future pickling use.

Let the beets sit in the refrigerator for a few days, at least 3 days & enjoy!

It’s that easy! Serve on a pita or cracker with some goat cheese, in a salad or on a burger!